---

---

Waverley winced as the stranger tossed her chair at the sick student, causing him to fall to the ground. She didn't say anything - there was reason to be scared. Whatever was happening, there was a violence to it. She'd picked up that much from the police broadcasts. Still, she hadn't seen any of it with her own eyes, and she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the sick student as they shambled back onto their feet. Waveley followed the stranger, heading towards front of the school. Waverley brought up the rear, so the children were sandwiched protected from front and back.

The memory of the gunshots outside resurfaced in Waverley's mind, prompting her to tilt her head slightly, listening out for anything out of the ordinary. She could still hear the bustle of a crowd outside, but the commotion had lessened since they'd entered. The gunshots had gone quiet too - which was particularly relieving for Waverley. She let out a sigh, turning her gaze forward, past the kids to the stranger leading their little group.

"I'm Waverley, by the way. Waverley Watts," Waverley introduced herself - since things had calmed down, it seemed like as good a time as any. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for her to explain why she was at the school. "My sister goes here - Riley. Kinda short, kind of a genius, kinda smug about it."

---

---

@Trainerblue192@Kirah The 911 operator still sounded very stressed over the phone as Hermes confirmed that there was a bite on that person as well to. "Alright, so listen closely if they start acting aggressive or anything like that you have to keep your distance we'll have someone there as soon as possible." They said while still remaining on the line. "Are they responsive or anything?" She asked Hermes, while Hannah looked at Mandy staying clear or touching the bite wound on the old man's hand. The elderly man seemed to be out for the time being.

---

---

---

---

"Kaitlyn Carver it's nice to meet you." She said extending her hand over towards Waverly as she introduced herself as she watched Becker escorting the kids off to a nearby ambulance, the scene seemed to be secured for the time being which was good then. She started to think for a moment, it was still her first day here and she was still trying to figure out each of the students names were. "I don't think I saw her in my class sadly." Kaitlyn answered Waverly's question.

"Maybe you should try and calling her number again or something?" She suggested as a cop approached the two of them. "Is everyone out of the school?" He asked knowing that there were a few teachers who had gone in along with them to make sure that the other students who fell behind or got lost could still be in the school somewhere. "I uh saw a teacher and student they were really aggressive I managed to lock them in the two classrooms we saw." She answered as the officer nodded slightly. "Are you alright miss?" The officer asked Waverly.

---

---

---

---

"I won't be long." Isaac said to Kali as he watched the remaining patrons and employees had all left, he grabbed his keys and started to make sure that the back door was locked as he made his way towards the front door and locked it as well to. "Alright so how far do you live from here Kali?" Isaac asked Kali letting her lead the way, his own place wasn't to far.

"Cool follow us then." He said motioning for Verity to follow behind him towards his tow truck, luckily there was some rear seating as he looked towards Flynn. "The lady gets to sit in the front." He said which made Flynn roll his eyes and shake his head slightly. "Yeah, yeah whatever you say man." He said as he opened the door and the rear passenger door and climbed into the back seat which was cramped. "After you ma'am." Flynn's friend said to Verity as he got into the driver's seat and started it up.

Mandy's eyes went wide and she stepped back away from the man. Hermes was telling her that the CDC said to avoid people who had bites on them and this man did. She looked at Hannah, hoping the teen would ask the woman some questions, like what happened? She felt useless. She hated this. She wanted to converse, she needed information and this situation was dangerous.

She raised her hands, palm toward her chest and pulled them slowly away, telling her cousin to breathe. Then she turned to Hannah, "Ask what happened, before the accident." God she wished there was a proper interpreter there.

---

---

Verity followed the two men out, periodically checking her phone for texts or updates on what was going on. Her mind wandered to her ex-husband briefly and she debated calling him to see if he was okay. She opted not to. He lost that right when he cheated on her. She hoped it was some illness going around and he and his new girlfriend caught it.

She smiled when the man offered her the front seat, moving that 100-watt smile over to Flynn. "How generous. Thank you. Looks like chivalry isn't dead just yet." Perhaps a poor choice of words given what happened inside, but she let it slide and got into the vehicle's front seat. Once she got comfortable she put her seatbelt on and checked her phone one last time. She was ready for this day to be over and it was still morning. Perhaps when she got home she would take a long bath and catch up on some shows she had been putting off, let whatever was happening run off.

---

---

"I got ahold of her before I bumped into you. She dipped out early; girl always had good instincts," Waverley explained. She took the woman's hand - Kaitlyn, she introduced herself as - and shook it, committing her name to memory. The group made their way outside, Waverley stepping up to walk beside Kaitlyn once they were all out. As the cop approached, Waverley flinched, falling back slightly, letting Kaitlyn answer the officer's question. Her shoulders tensed, though, as he turned his attention to her - exactly what she didn't want to happen. She took a deep breath, stepping out from behind Kaitlyn, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly, literally biting her tongue to keep herself from saying anything else. Her history with the police was less than stellar, and her personal punk philosophies usually put her in opposition with them. She managed to keep quiet for a good few beats, though she probably looked shiftier than was safe; avoiding eye contact, stiff as a board. After a moment, she asked, "Heard gunshots earlier - did any of the kids get hurt?"

---

---

Soon enough, it was time for Kali and Isaac to leave.

"It's not that far of a drive." Kali explained as she waited for Isaac to lock up the restaurant. "But the subway has always been faster than if I were to walk to work." She continued, walking over to where Isaac's vehicle sat in the parking lot. Opening the passenger door, Kali sat down and buckled herself in.

Once Isaac was in the car, Kali pointed at the windscreen towards a nearby street. "You'll want to follow that road for a couple blocks before turning at the light." She told Isaac, placing her purse on her lap as he began to back up. "...And thank you again, Isaac. It's been a... crazy day today. I just hope Jeff will be okay, like the paramedics said he would."

---

---

@Trainerblue192@Kirah "Sir are you still there sir is he responsive?" The 911 operator asked over the phone hoping to get Hermes to respond to their previous question. The elderly man was still breathing and groaning out in pain as Hannah looked over at Mandy and nodded slightly as she turned towards the elderly woman. "What happened to him?" She asked gesturing towards the bite mark on the man's wrist. "We were walking, and this homeless guy came out and bit my husband. We were taking him back home and were going to call 911 when the car drove by and hit him.." The elderly woman said as Hannah turned and translated for Mandy as best as she could for her, Mandy would be able to understand Hannah's signing while she translated.

@Kuro "Yeah today hasn't been what I was hoping it would be honestly, i'm sure Jeffery will be getting the best care he can get." Isaac said to Kali as he got into his car and started it up and started to follow Kali's directions. "So do you live alone or have a roommate?" Isaac asked as he continued to drive down the street as he turned on the radio trying to see if there was any news on whats going on as a news reporter started to speak up.

"So i'm here with the commander here with the national guard, is there anything you can tell us?" The reporter asked, as a man's voice started to speak up sounded like an older guy. "Due to uptick of violence all around the city we will be working and helping with local police with keeping the peace. We will also be providing aid to anyone who needs it as well to and will be setting up locations shortly and will be giving that info out to the public as soon as possible." They said to the reporter. "Thank you for your time sir." The reporter said as the radio went to an ad break.

---

---

---

---

Kaitlyn looked at Waverly as she took a step behind her slightly as the police officer asked if they were hurt or anything which she shook the head slightly. "I'm good." She said to the officer, as the officer turned to look at Waverly noting the behavior but didn't really want to address it. "The kids are safe and those that were injured along with the staff are getting looked at." They said sighing slightly looking at the two ladies. "We are blocking off the area so I suggest you two leave now and go home." They suggested before walking off to the other officers.

Kaitlyn nodded slightly as she turned to look at Waverly. "Do you know where your sister is right now?" She asked wondering if she had decided to go home or something to avoid what was happening which was probably a good idea and avoided what happened at the school. "Though we should go before the cops get annoyed with us." Kaitlyn suggested as she started to make her way off of the school grounds.

---

---

---

---

Flynn rolled his eyes slightly at Verity as he climbed into the cramped backseat shoving a few of his friend's work tools to the side. "The shop aint to far really like less than five minutes." He said as he looked at Verity. "I'm Gus by the way." He said extending his hand towards Verity as he turned the truck on and started to drive, turning on the radio as well to as the same news reporter was interviewing the national guard commander.

"So i'm here with the commander here with the national guard, is there anything you can tell us?" The reporter asked, as a man's voice started to speak up sounded like an older guy. "Due to uptick of violence all around the city we will be working and helping with local police with keeping the peace. We will also be providing aid to anyone who needs it as well to and will be setting up locations shortly and will be giving that info out to the public as soon as possible." They said to the reporter. "Thank you for your time sir." Gus shook his head slightly and turned it over to a music station.

"Looks like another bout of some super bug or whatever." Flynn finally said as he shifted slightly in the backseat he really did hate sitting in the back of Gus truck sometimes it was always full of junk. It didn't take to long and eventually they were in the front of the repair shop. "Alrighty ma'am just gonna check in on the mechanic working on it and we should get the invoice for ya and you can be on your way. You are welcome to wait in the waiting room if you want." Gus said as he got out of his truck and started to make it towards the garage where other cars were being worked on leaving Flynn and Verity alone. Flynn got out of the backseat and was getting ready to head towards the waiting area when he heard a sudden scream.

Mandy nodded as Hannah translated. Okay, that made sense. Had the woman been bit? "Ask if she's been bit." She told Hannah and looked at the man checking on him again.

"Hermes, tell the operator what happened. Ask them what we need to do." She was getting scared. Was this what Hermes thought it was? Were they doomed? End times? Mandy wished her parents were there. She pulled out her phone and sent her dad a text.

"Stay inside. Do not go outside for any reason. It is crazy out here. I'll be home ASAP. But there was an accident, we weren't involved, but we saw it. So we are helping."

---

---

Verity shook Gus' hand in return. "Verity," she said in response before they were off. Gus turned on the radio but instead of the Billboard Top 100 it was some news relating to what was going on. Verity closed her eyes at the words 'uptick in violence'. People didn't need much for them to resort to their basic instincts. Every time something happens people run to the nearest Wal-Mart and stock up on water and toilet paper (of all things). She wasn't surprised that whatever was going around was causing people to panic and hurt others.

At the end of the day, we were all but monsters.

She hoped it wasn't some superbug. But what else could it be? Her mind wandered to conspiracy theorists saying the drinking water is tainted or that the government is spreading chemicals in the air to get people to do things. She laughed to herself just as they pulled into the shop.

Verity opened the door and was about to get out when she heard the scream. She looked around and then at Flynn. "You heard that, right?" She got off the truck and, slowly and surely, made her way toward the noise.

---

---

---

---

”Uh, uh yeah sorry I'm still here.” Hermes made his way a bit closer to the old man, he didn't do much, but was able to follow his gaze and finger at the very least before Hermes went back into his call. ”He seems to be responsive. The woman with him claims he was attacked by a homeless man, bitten on his hand before they were able to pull away in an attempt to make it home. That's when the truck came out and sideswiped him as we saw.” He kept glancing back towards the two elderly people, waiting for help to come as Hermes waited to see if the man turned aggressive.

He was pacing again, his legs unable to stand still as his body was pumped with adrenaline and fear. ”How, uh, h-how much longer till they arrive? We haven't moved him, but we can't tell if anything more serious is there like internal bleeding or something. So the sooner we can get the help the better.” Liar. Hermes just wanted to leave this situation. The whole reason he hadn't wanted Hannah to leave the safety of Mandy's place, and the more reason why she shouldn't have even attempted to do it alone.

---

---

Waverley found herself relaxing as the police officer stepped away, leaving her and Kaitlyn to their own devices. They might not have been the scariest thing on Waverley's mind, but they certainly didn't comfort her. Waverley stepped back beside Kaitlyn, slipping her hand into her pocket to withdraw her ancient phone. At Kaitlyn's question, she gave a shake of her head, fingers already tapping at the cracked screen.

"No, but hopefully, I'm about to find out," she replied, before bringing the phone up to her ear. She listened to it ring as Kaitlyn began to lead the way away from the school, and the police that currently occupied it. It was fine with her - as far as she was concerned, the farther away from cops she was, the better. She followed close behind, her attention primarily on her phone. It was up in the air whether she'd answer. She wasn't always the best at doing so, but given everything going on, she figured chances might be higher. As the phone rang, she added to Kaitlyn, "Do you have a car?"

---

---

Kali nodded in response. Nevertheless, the nagging feeling in her head refused to go away even with Isaac's assurance. "I hope so. For his sake and ours." Kali replied, turning her attention towards the passenger window as she dwelled on the last few minutes. Thankfully, Isaac seemed to catch on the mood and shifted the conversation elsewhere.

"Actually, yes," Kali spoke as Isaac began to fiddle with the radio. "Liana—you might remember her. Though, she said something about her boss asking her to stay late, so she's probably not home right now."

As Isaac settled on a station, however, the news that came forth was quick to zap the tense atmosphere back to where it had been moments prior. An uptick in violence was certainly putting it lightly, as if they didn't just have to deal with a co-worker attempting to maul other members of the restaurant's staff. "Do you think there'll be any road blocks?" Kali asked Isaac as she shot him a momentary glance. "The message said to shelter in place, so they must be trying to keep the roads clear."